Myth of the Machine Analysis/Theory: Demons, Celestials, and the Devil
As I read Myth of the Machine (all credit belongs to @/flygutzz and @/nortsauce for creating this comic!!), I noticed something about how many people treated Bendy, specifically how they talked about him and how Bendy talks about his past. And, the more I looked into it, the more I noticed implications about the world around him.
Before you continue, I want to put a quick trigger warning for discussions of bigotry/prejudice, religion (specifically religious trauma), child abuse, and death.
When you look at the updated character card for Bendy, the second to last bullet point says that he's one of the only demons in Toon Town. When I first read through the comic (and saw the updated cards), that small piece of information immediately caught my eye: why was he one of the only demons left? More importantly, the cards only have the most important information about the characters (like their base personality), so why would the creators of the comic highlight this? So, I decided to stop, go back, and reread through chapter one just in case I missed anything. And I found quite a bit of interesting panels (featuring my messy annotations):
It's heavily implied from a lot of these panels demons face a lot of prejudice in Toon Town: when referring to Bendy, the words demon and devil are thrown around like they're being spit out, there seems to be a lot of stereotypes surrounding demons, and there are implications that there might be some form of Christianity in this world, or, at least, there's a religion that could be a "stand-in" for Christianity.
In the fifth and eighth panels, I put little annotations about Bendy's reactions to some of this - and, yes, I know Mugman wasn't trying to be rude/prejudice towards Bendy (I'll talk more about what he was implying later), but Bendy and Boris took it that way, and impact vs. intent are very different things. Anyways, Bendy reacts to these two instances by being sarcastic like it isn't affecting him that badly, but, looking at how he's drawn, he genuinely seems really upset with these instances. This implies that Bendy has been a victim of microaggressions so often that he's gotten "used to it" and his immediate coping mechanism is to play it off or act sarcastic, but deep down, these instances of prejudice hurt him.
(It's important to note that, in the fifth panel, Boris gets defensive on Bendy's on his behalf, implying that Boris has seen the bigotry directed at Bendy and how that affects his brother - considering that, it makes sense that Boris would immediately come to Bendy's aid when someone is awful to him)
I also want to focus more on the seventh picture in this batch: in the panel before this one, Cuphead explained how he never got to go to school because it was too expensive to send both him and Mugman. When asked why Mugman never taught him anything, Cuphead says that he was 1) too busy and 2) the teachers thought he was too stupid. Bendy then says that he understands how Cuphead feels, and proceeds to say that his teachers (the Nuns) weren't kind to 'kids who didn't talk'. Now, on the surface, this is all commentary on the education system within the world; it's a for profit system that throws kids who don't have enough money, or are 'too stupid to learn', out the window, and expects them to fend for themselves. And for the kids who don't do what the teachers say, or act the way the teachers want them to (like, for example, kids who don't talk or are 'too bad'), they're treated badly because a lot of school systems force kids to conform to specific standards.
But what if you look deeper into what Bendy says? He's a demon in a town with barely any others like him, being taught by Nuns, and he implies that they 'didn't go easy on him' - and, while Buddhism is known to have monastics who are women, they're usually referred to as Bhikkhunī or Bhikṣuṇī, leading me to believe that, in this specific panel, Bendy is talking about Christian Nuns. Which, if you know anything about Christianity, you know how they portray devils and demons and the implications of that are pretty disturbing. Even if the Nuns were 'hard' on him because he was 'quiet', how do we know that his teachers weren't awful to him because he's a demon?
The worst part about all this? I think there's more evidence that points to what exactly happened to Bendy in the flashback that occurred after Felix and Sheba kidnapped the B-Bros.
Okay, there's a lot to unpack with this one scene.
Let's start with how they're drawn: I noticed that both Bendy and Boris seem to have a lot of scuff marks on them, implying that they were in some sort of fight. There are two scars on Bendy's left forearm, and there are two on Boris' upper right arm. I can't recall if they have these scars in their older designs, so they might've faded away, or they were open wounds (but that seems a lot less likely because I can't see any blood). Bendy's also holding his tail, which is something he does when he's nervous/scared. However, the most interesting thing I noticed was in the fifth panel: Bendy looks like he's spilling ink. At first, I thought this was the Blot, and proceeded to freak out a little. But, when I thought more about it, I realized it could be him struggling to maintain his form. No matter if its the Blot or him keeping his form, him spilling ink shows that he's under a lot of stress.
Now, onto the dialogue: this scene obviously sets up a lot of interesting dilemmas for where the comic's timeline is currently, like Boris struggling a lot with his morals in a world that punishes him for it, and Bendy killing a man because he wanted to live. However, I want to focus on the implications for their past, not their present.
When Boris says, "They could've killed you," in the first panel, I think the "they" in question could be referring to the Nuns that taught them, or random people in Toon Town. When I first read the scene, I thought it was the later, but now that I've gone through an analyzed these scenes, it seems like the people that almost killed Bendy could've been the Nuns. We don't know exactly what happened before this scene, but if we go with the Nun interpretation, maybe Bendy was facing some kind of punishment (maybe the punishment was physical, but there is a chance the Nuns could've gotten a ordained minister to perform...something), and Boris realized that this could've killed Bendy, and they ran.
Bendy's dialogue implies that he's been taught to view himself as a bad person because he's a demon. He asks Boris why it was bad "they" were trying to kill him, and then if bad people deserve to live, and finally asking if he was bad. When you consider that organized religion, especially Christianity, has been used to attack a lot of marginalized communities in real life, it makes sense that an organized religion seemingly based on Christianity would attack minorities in this world. And, well, when you look at how Christianity depicts devils/demons...it starts painting a horrible picture. So, all of this together implies that the Nuns, who were Bendy's teachers and most likely some of the only adults in his life, taught him that being a demon was bad, that he was automatically a bad person for being something he had no control over. This most likely caused Bendy internalize a lot of this, and that's extremely tragic.
And let's circle back to my original point - the fact that Bendy is one of the only demons in Toon Town: this fact alone implies that other demons either moved out, were killed, or they outright avoid Toon Town (or most towns in this world) due to the bigotry they face there.
So, demons face a lot of bigotry in this world. But that leaves the question: why?
Well, a lot of prejudice and bigotry is based on untrue stereotypes that usually comes from bioessentialism. No types of bigotry are based in logic - at their cores, they're illogical and usually used by people in power to create division amongst people.
Myth starts off telling us that the Blot reemerged to due peoples' greed, which separated the toons, and, as it says this, it shows a picture of Mickey, implying that a lot of this was his and his goons' fault - however, Mickey's still mayor of Toon Town, and most people still think highly of him. If people were divided during the time of reanimation right before the Blot came back, then that allows the people in power to take control of the narrative once shit hits the fan. And, as we see in the comic, Mickey and Bugs (and the other stars) seem to have a death grip around Toon Town. In order to do this, it's likely that they needed someone to blame in order to keep their power.
There's a version of Christianity in this world. When people get desperate, they usually turn to religion. People in power need a scapegoat. We know that the Devil exists because Cuphead and Mugman seem to have already sold their souls.
So, even though no one knows for sure where the Blot comes from, it would be pretty easy to use religion and blame it on the Devil - maybe, they'd take an extra step and blame it on the Celestials, since they "left" the toons to deal with the Blot; it would make sense since the Stars don't seem very fond of the Celestials to the point where they don't mention them by name, and Mugman seems to dislike them too, implying that people other than the Stars hate them.
(Maybe the Devil is connected to the Celestials? Who knows...)
This would easily create someone people could get mad at, and this affected the demons because, well, people would probably connect them to the Devil. It's really interesting because a lot of the discrimination we see directed towards Bendy comes from the Stars or the Cupbros (the later obviously don't have a good relationship with the Devil).
Now, is it possible that all of this (the Blot, the searchers, ect) is the Devil's fault? Uhh... I don't know?
In Quest of the Ink Machine, the Devil was the one who started spreading the "ink illness" again, and the map to all of the parts belonged to him. However, I don't know if the same will be true for Myth, but I do think that the Devil has something to do with what's happening based off of some dialogue from Cuphead and Mugman.
Why that reaction? Why did Mugman specify that Bendy was a demon before asking if he could see the map?? Why, unless they know something about why Bendy could see the map??
They don't know that this map leads to the Ink Machine yet, but they know it's some kind of magic, which ties it to the Celestials. SO WHY THAT REACTION??
How did Mugman and Cuphead know that finding the Ink Machine is extremely dangerous? Why did it seem like the Searchers are specifically after Bendy, Boris, Cuphead and Mugman? Why did the Mother of Searchers show up soon after Bendy got the map?
Maybe, the Devil is trying to stop them by controlling the searchers, and the Cupbros know that he can control them? The Celestials made is so only certain people can see the map, and Felix found the map in an 'angelic temple'; if the Celestials are somehow connected to the Devil, maybe that's why only Bendy can see the map because he's a demon? We know he has some sort of connection with magic because he was able to "fuse" his hand with Cuphead's and use his finger guns. BUT WHY?
I really don't know - I'm mostly just spitting ideas out now. But I have a feeling that all of these things are somehow connected, I just don't know how or why...
Thinking about TFP Smokescreen and Bumblebee and how they're both child soldiers in different ways because I'm normal.
Smokescreen was funneled into boot camp and then sent to the most prestigious library in all of Cybertron. He was surrounded by thousands of years of Cybertronian history, most likely burying himself in books during his mission because of how bored he got, inspecting a history long forgotten by most of their species. He was forced to watch, forced to nothing, as things became more and more dire on his planet until he took a last stand. But, even then, he wasn't allowed to go down in a blaze of glory and was instead knocked out and captured. Smokescreen was sheltered, and, since he never saw the front lines until Earth, he was 'privileged' enough not to see the horrors of war. However, this means he was never taught how to work with others, and was extremely independent and isolated (he might've made friends at boot camp, but then he was sent away to Iacon and could only talk to Alpha Trion), and the others in Team Prime immediately expected him to be good at something he wasn't taught have. He was immediately thrust into the realities of war, working with people with vastly different world views than his, and he had to adapt quickly. This forced him to change from being very independent (almost selfish, in a way) to barely trusting his own judgement and relying heavily on others making decisions for him (basically, the pendulum swung from one side all the way to the other, which is very interesting).
There's also the aspect of Smokescreen's agency being taken from him by destiny/fate/the plot; he wasn't allowed to fight because he was sent to Iacon, Alpha Trion knocked him out before he could fight and made him the fourth omega key's holder, he randomly ended up on Earth, he was almost chosen to be a Prime even when he obviously didn't want to be/was overwhelmed by the prospect of it, ect ect. It's only when he choses to use the Forge to heal Optimus (aka going against the wishes of his leader, kind of gaining back that independence) that he has some real agency, that he gets to decide what he wants, and it changes his story. He isn't aware of this, of the war forcefully shaping his future and himself. Just like a soldier, Smokescreen isn't allowed to have much of his own agency due to the war and its consequences; he's forced into the box of a soldier, just like everyone else. He truly is Destiny's Child.
Now, the same can be said about Bumblebee, but there's a catch; unlike Smokescreen, Bumblebee was immediately thrust into the war. In the prequel books, I'm pretty sure he started out by being a medical assistant, carrying important medical supplies throughout the Autobot army. He was then permanently disabled by Megatron when his voice box was destroyed, but he was forced to keep going due to the war. He was possessed (once by Megatron in the show, another time by the Quintessons in the books), disabled again (Operation Bumblebee), literally killed (the s3 finale), and has to watch as others around him die in the war. He's killed people (Megatron, Skyquake, a shitload of Vehicons) and never bats an eye because he's used to it. He sacrifices every single part of himself because he wants to be useful and the only way he thinks he's useful is if he's a good soldier, one that never questions his cause or what he's doing. He follows commands, he does his best, and if his best isn't good enough, guilt eats away at him. He thinks he has no agency, no real meaning, outside of being a soldier. We quite literally see this when he continuously puts himself in danger so he can be useful; he dies because of it.
But there's more to this; there was an article by MTV where Alex Irvine shared a scrapped chapter from the Exodus books about what happened at Tyger Pax, but the article was deleted and I can't find it on the wayback machine - I saved it a while ago on a google doc if you want to read through it yourself. This, of course, goes through how Bumblebee lost his voice; before it happened, we see how Bumblebee acts, which is pretty similar to TFA Bumblebee imo. He's cocky, childish, constantly talking, and he even speaks out against orders. But the most interesting part about this article? It shows a different story of what happened to Bumblebee than TFP's depiction of it.
The Tyger Pax mission happened because they needed to send the Allspark off before the Decepticons could get their hands on it. Optimus, Arcee and Jazz were in the Well of Allsparks sending it off while the wreckers (including Bumblebee) kept the Decepticons at bay. In the show, we're told (by Ratchet to Raf) that Bumblebee was interrogated by Megatron and, because he didn't give him any information, Megatron destroyed his voice box. However, in the article, there was no interrogation; after the Allspark is sent off, Megatron is left standing there until he hears Bumblebee, laughing at him. And, once he's got Megatron's attention, Bumblebee proceeds to make fun of him to his face, even though Bumblebee was injured due to a missile from Starscream and, therefore, couldn't defend himself. Megatron takes this chance and destroys his voice box as punishment. Megatron then keeps him alive for the others to find.
So, why are these two stories different? Well, I'm fairly certain it's because Bumblebee lied. The fact that Bumblebee didn't stay quiet was what caused him to lose his voice - of course, Megatron being a megalomaniacal dictator who feeds off of mentally and physically destroying people isn't Bumblebee's problem, but, from his view point, him losing his voice is his fault. This is further enforced by what Megatron says after it happens: "Let that be your story. Tell it how you may." Obviously, it's a jab at how Bumblebee can't talk anymore, but if you look deeper into it? No one was there but the two of them. Bumblebee could tell whatever story he wanted to, and no one would be there to correct him. So, not wanting to face the ire or pity from the other Autobots (since he thinks this was a his mistake, one he knew better than to make), Bumblebee lied and said it was an interrogation, and that he was the perfect soldier up until the very end. However, Bumblebee knew the truth; he thought that this was all his fault, and this soon to become self-hatred only added to his need to be useful, to be cared about. He forced himself to be the perfect soldier because the one time he messed up, he paid for it.
The war has greatly affected both Smokescreen and Bumblebee; one of them was sheltered and isolated, while the other was exposed to the horrors of war. Their agency was stripped from them since birth, and they're both forced to march along with everyone else to be good soldiers. Maybe Bumblebee's jealous of Smokescreen because he never had to be on the front lines of the war. Maybe Smokescreen's jealous of Bumblebee because he's a war hero, someone everyone loves, the person who Smokescreen should be. But, deep down, they're both just scared people who are barely 18 or at least young adults (based off how they act) and are both trying to live in a hostile environment always trying to kill them.
At some point, we should probably start talking about the ableism that surrounds TFP Bumblebee not only in the fandom, but also in the show itself. Like, the infantilization in the fandom or the fact that I have never seen such a blatant, "disabled people need to be fixed/can be fixed," storyline in my life than what's in TFP.
And please don't use the fact that they're giant alien robots to ignore/defend this.
So I'm rewatching TFP and I noticed some really interesting things in episode 6, named Masters and Students. It's the episode right after the Darkness Rising five-parter; everyone thinks Megatron is 'dead', and Starscream awakens Skyquake (it's kinda implied that he was sent with the Predacons who were killed in the astroid that destroyed the dinosaur) - Optimus and Bumblebee fight Skyquake, and Bumblebee kills him by ripping wiring (that probably dealt with Skyquake's navigation/turning systems) out of his body, making Skyquake crash into the sides of a valley and killing him. This is also the episode where Ratchet takes over the kids' science projects, showing how he misses Cybertron and projects that onto everyone else. And Arcee asks Jack if he can build a small intestine, lol.
But I want to focus on Bumblebee and Optimus here.
I remember making a post saying that Optimus is can be very hypocritical and have inconsistent morals at times, and I was mostly thinking of TFP Optimus when I made it. He gives Megatron so many different chances, no matter how many horrible things Megatron does; he's constantly grieving the death of his best friend, and, every time Megatron does something slightly good, Optimus clings to it. It gives him hope that maybe, just maybe, Megatron will change if he gives him the chance to.
Now, in this episode, it starts out with Optimus and Ratchet talking to each other; Optimus seems to be grieving Megatron, or, at least, grieving the person he thought Megatron was. He says that he wished he had the chance to change his mind, to prove that there was still some good in him. This is really interesting to me because he never does this with any of the other Decepticons - obviously, him and Megatron were close (whether you view them as platonic or romantic doesn't rlly matter rn). He gives Starscream a chance to back down and he tries to convince Skyquake to stop fighting and both of them turn him down, but with Megatron, Optimus gives him more than just one chance - Now, I do understand that Optimus tried killing him in the s1 finale, but he fails to and never tries again; I’m pretty sure that’s because Megatron helped the Autobots kill Unicron, and that gave Optimus was once again given hope that he could change.
And, at the end of the episode, Optimus says, “If Skyquake chose to stray from his master’s path, we might not be burying him today,” which is so interesting! Looking at this quote in the short term, Optimus thought he was dead, but looking at this in the long term? Megatron never really strays from his path. He does everything for his own selfish gain and never truly changes until Predacons Rising (and, even then, you could argue that he changes due to selfishness), yet Prime only tries to kill him once and then proceeds to give Megatron more leeway.
This kinda becomes a dichotomy when you include Bumblebee in this.
Now, Bumblebee was born into the war. He never learned who Megatron was before he was thrust into becoming a scout for the Autobots, so he doesn’t hold himself back when it comes to trying to kill Megatron (or any Decepticon), unlike Optimus. This is what leads Bumblebee to kill both Skyquake and Megatron, which adds a really interesting parallel to both of these situations. It also gives the episode name, Masters and Students, a really interesting meaning. Optimus, the master, wants to give Megatron, a genocidal dictator, unlimited chances to change because of his clouded and positive view of the world, while an argument can be made that Bumblebee, the student, has a much more negative outlook due to his upbringing in the war and he’s not really willing to give the Decepticon higher-ups second chances.
There’s also more interesting stuff that foreshadows what happens at the end of the show! Near the beginning of this episode, Bumblebee and Raf are talking, and Raf asks Bumblebee why he isn’t a warrior yet. Optimus then steps in, saying something that he thinks Bumblebee deserves the warrior title, but Bee has a lot to learn, which sets up him becoming a warrior later. And then, at the end of the episode, Optimus says, “Bumblebee, putting yourself at risk wasn’t the wisest of strategies, but you performed admirably,” setting up how Bumblebee ‘dies’, gets brought back to life, and then kills Megatron, effectively ending the war, at the end of s3. This line also subtly adds an interesting character flaw to Bee; he’s extremely self sacrificial, especially when it comes to protecting/helping the Autobot cause. This is heavily implied/basically confirmed in later episodes (Sick Mind, Operation: Bumblebee), and this is most likely due to Bumblebee only seeing himself as a soldier and basing his self-worth on what he can do for others/the war.
Anyways, I just thought this episode added a lot of interesting stuff to Optimus and Bumblebee’s characters to be built upon, and added some cool implications to their relationship - like, have these two ever fought over the fact that Optimus continuously gives Megatron chances when he’s done horrible things, like destroy Bumblebee’s voice box? Idk…much to think about.
Bro I'm watching Trollhunters and I just got to the scene where Jim turns into a troll and?? The music? The expression on Jim's face as he sacrifices his humanity, the thing everyone around him deemed his weakness, when in reality it was his strength? The montage of his life, of moments with the people he loves most while they're banging at the door? Stricker saying, "Young Atlas, you are not alone. Don't do this! Open the door!" THE FACT THAT THIS SCENE HAPPENS AFTER THE SHOW HAS IMPLIED MULTIPLE DIFFERENT TIMES THAT JIM HAS DEPRESSION/IS SUICIDAL??? FUCK OFF???
"tfp smokescreen was supposed to be hotrod" "tfp smokescreen is literally just hotrod. he should've been hotrod" "tfp arcee is just chromia. why didnt they make her chromia" im going to slam your head into concrete. NEVER speak ever again.
